By her own count, Caitlin Hoskins has spent three quarters of her life thinking about hospitals.

For as long as she can remember, she's gone to Montreal for treatment. There, she's sometimes admitted to the intensive care unit, where she's kept alive by tubes which feed her and breathe for her. She leaves her brother and father at home, and her mother anxious outside the hospital doors.

Each time, she's returned home knowing the voyage would not be her last.

'I felt very bad, very guilty, very selfish.' - Caitlin Hoskins

When Hoskins was granted a wish by the Children's Wish Foundation in 2015, she had the chance to forget about everything — to leave the hospital, the doctors the needles — and take the trip of her dreams. Instead, she gave it to her brother.

"Growing up, going back and forth to Montreal for a continuous 16 years, it takes the attention off of Gregory," Hoskins said. "I felt very bad, very guilty, very selfish."

The 18-year-old put her own dream trip to Nashville on hold, to send her family on a trip to Jamaica.

"All the attention was on me, and my brother didn't receive that," she continued. "To see my brother so happy in Jamaica, it was more than the wish."

'In so much pain'

Hoskins was born with a vascular malformation on her face — extra blood vessels that attached to the lips and mouth, a condition makes it hard to talk and eat.

Caitlin Hoskins was born with a vascular malformation — extra blood vessels that attached to her mouth. (Garrett Barry/CBC)

Since she was two years old, the condition has sent her to Montreal for repeated treatments at Sainte-Justine Hospital. At first, she was in the hospital every six weeks.

Caitlin's next trip to Montreal will be her 40th, says her mother, Julie Hoskins.

"It's challenging, I don't live a normal life like most teenagers do," Caitlin said. "I have to be careful, and going up to Montreal it's time consuming, it's stressful, for me and my family: financially, physically, emotionally."